Top products from r/bestof

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Top comments that mention products on r/bestof:

u/h1ppophagist · 2 pointsr/bestof

That's very sweet of you; I'm glad you liked the music! Rossini is one of my favourite composers. If you've never seen all of Il Barbiere di Siviglia, it's so much fun. Donizetti's great too and in a similar style; here's an aria.

Italian will help you somewhat, and honestly, if you have a good English vocabulary, that will help you a lot too; no other languages necessary. Regardless of how you do it, it's going to require a pretty big time commitment. I majored in Latin, have been studying it for six years, and in fact I placed first in a Canada-wide competition for third- and fourth-year undergraduates in translating a previously unseen passage, and I still read Latin a fair bit slower than English. I can certainly testify to the utility of reading ancient texts in the original, though. I had a bit of an epiphany in fourth year when I was reading Plato's Phaedo (not written in Latin, I know, but it still applies). There was one point where I was interested in how different translators interpreted a particular passage, and when I compared four or five different translations, I couldn't help but notice how different each of them was from the others. It made me realize how much interpretive work goes into a translation, and it made me happy that my studies were enabling me to make those sorts of judgements myself.

If you do decide to tackle Latin, I can recommend two series to start you out that you could choose one of, depending on what kind of approach you like. In my university, we used a very grammar-based textbook called Wheelock's Latin. It covers almost all the important grammatical concepts necessary to read genuine Latin, and includes towards the end unedited passages of real Roman writing. The downside of the book is that it encourages a deciphering kind of approach, rather than learning to be comfortable with the language first.

The other, more welcoming approach is the one taken by the Cambridge Latin Course. I will note that I haven't used the textbooks myself, but I know it's extremely popular in high schools. Those books try to get students reading right away and gradually increase the difficulty and introduce grammatical concepts along the way. It's more like a modern language textbook. There are three or four books in the series. I suspect that these books would be better for an amateur learner than Wheelock.

If I were you, I'd see if I could take a look at both those textbook series before buying anything of them. Some copies might be in a nearby university library or a high school that offers Latin.

After textbooks, good first authors to read in actual Latin, depending on your interests, are Catullus's poems, Phaedrus's adaptations of Aesop's fables, Julius Caesar's accounts of his campaigns in the Gallic and Civil Wars, Cicero's letters and speeches, or bits of Ovid's Metamorphoses or Ars Amatoria.

If you get past the textbooks and are reading real texts, you'll need a dictionary. This and [this] (http://www.amazon.com/Cassells-Latin-Dictionary-Latin-English-English-Latin/dp/0025225804/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1347668490&sr=8-1&keywords=latin+dictionary) are good choices. Anything by James Morwood, like this, is not. Having some kind of grammatical reference is essential as well. Woodcock's Latin Syntax is my favourite for its excellent explanations and its great readability, in spite of its thoroughness.

Edit: Huh, this got quite long. Sorry about that. Anyway, don't feel pressured or intimidated by the length of this. I just listed a few things in case you decide to give Latin a shot.

u/velatine · 1 pointr/bestof

> You have to wake up. Be aware of what you're doing and where you are. If you need to, make a schedule. And adhere to it very strictly. Set alarms if you want. But you just have to wake up and be present and plan your time. Know what you're going to do, and do it. If you don't know what to do, you'll fall back into your natural pattern and just say "I'll start tomorrow."

This is typical millennial advice.

I don't know if the author is a millennial, but the style is quite typical of the gen.

I'm super familiar with gentheory which is based on the book Generations by Strauss & Howe. If you are interested in reading it, it's great, but it's heavy reading. Also it's over 500 pages.

Generations Book on Amazon

Gentheory is basically social psychology that says that different social styles (generational trends) create a backlash trend. The backlash creates another backlash etc. This repeats in a cycle of 4.

This isn't like a superstition prediction-- it's a psychology prediction of human nature. That a certain trend produces a certain backlash.

So let me set this up for you....

Gen X which is my gen-- we are an "honest" generation-- vulgar, aggressive (not polite), selfish (hey, just being honest!), introverted politically (not that politically active compared to other gens) and kind of free-form.

What does that set-up for Millennials?

  • pragmatic (steeped in vulgarity honesty)
  • success orientated
  • logic orientated (head over heart)

    The above quoted advice is all that-- "make a schedule" and "adhere to it strictly"... that's all "head over heart" type stuff which as I said is typical for Millennials.

    This is actually good advice-- I'm not knocking its effectiveness.

    But I just would like you to realize that there is a backlash to this style of thinking that is predicted to arise in the following generations.

    Millennial is a logic, pragmatic, success generation.

    Gen Z.... tries to follow in your footsteps, right?

    They really try.... but they weren't raised in the same Gen X environment that you were raised in.

    Gen Z (born 2005-2025) were raised in the "success" world that you created. So their style will NOT be your style.

    Gen Z is actually predicted to be the most misunderstood generation because their style is seen as a "failed" Millennial style when in reality they have a very special and more heart-centered style different from your own.

    The reason I bring all this up is because the advice given here does work-- so Millennials get mad at future generations (it is predicted) because they don't want to follow the same "logic, success" advice.

    Just a heads up. ;)
u/kleinbl00 · 15 pointsr/bestof

>Thanks for the response.

Thanks for the conversation. I'm enjoying it.

>So, if I understand correctly, you're saying that karma as a content-sorting system is a useful and necessary part of reddit, while karma as a label on a redditor is an unnecessary and detrimental aspect of reddit.

I largely endorse this summary. I'm not saying personal cumulative karma is completely worthless, but I think "karmawhoring" is entirely related to going for a big score beyond that which is necessary to prevent filtering. I think there should be some point where you "win the game" or "stop leveling" and the score ceases to matter. Those who are only here for the score will either start a new account or leave. Those who were here for the discussions will continue on as before, less the annoying "you're just here for the karma" discussions.

At some point, our cups should truly runneth over.

>I would understand this opinion, as it is explained in the "Abolish Karma" post, but the very beginning of the linked comment seems to suggest otherwise:

>So, here karma (the summed label-on-a-redditor kind, not the content-sorting kind) is a currency regardless of its superficial valuelessness, which would seem to suggest something rather contrary to the "Abolish Karma" post: that karma does have some sort of underlying value.

I touched on this just a moment ago but I'm happy to elaborate.

Dan Ariely has done some interesting research on value and currency in Predictably Irrational. Basically, our behavior is manipulated easily by arbitrary numbers and arbitrary situations. The model for karma is very much like a score in a persistent-universe MMORPG. Scores in MMORPGs lead to gold farming. Most every participant on Reddit is at least passingly familiar with these environments and many of our participants are eloquently versed in them. Meanwhile, there are very few online communities that assign rank and weight to comments. So while the discussions have more in common with a PHPBB or the like, the community isn't unlike WOW.

Where things fall apart, of course, is the fact that you can't sell or trade Karma. Psychologically, however, that doesn't matter - we're primed to expect some sort of redemption system for our score because of past experience and peer influece, so we behave as if there's some sort of redemption system for our score.

I believe this makes Reddit a worse place rather than a better one - if there were some sort of exchange for karma, people wouldn't be scolded for having a high score. People who were just reposting things for the high score would be drummed out of the community. In a very real way, we're acting as if our poker chips are money... when in fact we can't even use them to bet more.

In a nutshell, Redditors behave as if that cumulative karma score had value, even though it doesn't... and this dichotomy causes a lot of squirrely behavior.

Like reposts.

u/metarinka · 16 pointsr/bestof

I'll give some historical context.

After WWII all our factories were still at full capacity and switched back to making personal cars, and all these returning vets on the GI bill want to college or back to good factory jobs and started buying homes and settling down.


Now the popular notion at the time was that city life was dying. Why get at best a row house or apartment in New york or philadelphia when you can build or buy a crafstmen house for the same price out in the suburbs. Also as civil rights was coming about it was convenient to cede the inner city to African Americans and poor and use things like loan restrictions to zone and price them out of the nice crime free suburbs.


So given the popular notion that the city and urban life was dying. Most city planning resources when into road construction so everyone could live out in the surburbs and take the new highways to their jobs. Entire cities were built up around this concept. In order to pay for this essentially halted Urban public works like subways and light rail. Why would you want to go on a stuffy subway with negroes when you can commute in your cadillac with radio and select-a-matic transmission?


So the results are profound and easy to verify. Any city that become major and modern after world war II has terrible public transportation: Examples include LA, Houston, Denver, Portland. Any city that was major before WWII tends to have still strong public transportation like Chicago, New york, Boston, D.C.


We basically decided as a nation that surburban life was awesome and gave up on public transportation. We even went steps further in places like LA where they actively bought out trolley lines just to close them down and pave over the tracks. Also the very way we designed our suburbs actively discourage pedestrainism and many live in places that "have no where to walk to". I'm ashamed to say that even my hometown Ann Arbor fell into that spiral and built many planned developments that have no feasible options of walking or biking to get to any retail area.


TLDR: city planners after WWII decided everyone (who was white) should live in suburbs and stopped funding public transportation.

Edit: for those who don't believe me this was covered by sociologists in the way things never were http://www.amazon.com/The-Way-Things-Never-Were/dp/0595348084

and lies my teacher told me http://www.amazon.com/Lies-My-Teacher-Told-Everything/dp/0743296281/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1457056096&sr=1-1&keywords=lies+my+teacher+told+me both fascinating reads

u/merinosweater · 197 pointsr/bestof

edit - Looks like there's been some confusion. Americans, you can buy some from NK Supplies - direct from UK on Amazon or direct-pharmacy (Item Location: Birmingham, United Kingdom) on eBay.

Scroll down on the Amazon link to find the UK vendor for $7.87 + free shipping. Also, please look into using smile.amazon.com to donate to a charity of your choice! Slightly more expensive Amazon link if you don't want to scroll down.

To use - Apply a very thin layer of the toothpaste on your toothbrush. Slightly wet with water. Brush your teeth. Using your tongue and mouth suction, push the toothpaste between each tooth for 3-5 minutes. Do not swallow the toothpaste. Spit it out as best as you can. Do not rinse out with water. Avoid eating and drinking for 30 minutes.

u/[deleted] · 1 pointr/bestof

>The idea that human beings create morality and honor morality as a method of peaceful existence, when taken to it's logical end, does not reflect the commonly held conception of morality.

That's why I prefer to use the word ethics. I think morality by definition has an association with divinity. People use them interchangeably though. So let's assume we're using morality in a secular sense, like ethics.

Have you read Sam Harris' book The Moral Landscape It presents solutions to your questions.

Basically the premise is that you don't need a divine being to have objective morality. That objectively, the most moral position will always be that which minimizes the suffering of sentient beings. It may not always be apparent what that position is, but that doesn't mean that it doesn't exist.

>those ideas were built upon an intrinsic belief in God

This is not the case. The morality of religion comes from the morality of the human beings who wrote it down at the time. They attributed their ideas about morality to a God, and called it a religion, but they were very human.

>Natural order does not have any worth without the intention of a universal authority standard.

FTFY. IT doesn't have to come from an authority. It can be determined through consensus.

u/crazyprsn · 2 pointsr/bestof

I offer Pastwatch: The Redemption of Christopher Columbus for anyone who likes a good sci-fi book. Orson Scott Card does an amazing job of taking history and showing what could have been.

He had a lot of people help him with the historic accuracy, and it shows.

u/penwraith · 3 pointsr/bestof

actually, gen theory is super interesting regarding trends.

pragmatic vs idealistic

introverted vs extroverted

like gen x is introverted pragmatic and millennial predicted to be extroverted pragmatic. they don't rebel against the pragmatism vs idealism axis... they rebel against gen x introversion and lack of political involvement... which itself was a rebellion against boomer extroverted idealism.

generations book (origin of gen theory) doesn't use those terms, but the template is there... I just used more abstract terminology. I would really recommend the book before being so dismissive about the irrelevance of generations. it's a difficult and long read, but fascinating.

generations by strauss & howe (amazon link)

edit: they coined the term millennials

u/EmberHands · 2 pointsr/bestof

Please please please try this I also have pretty shitty teeth but using this toothpaste from Europe has actually given me two of my only "All clear" cleanings from the dentist. All my "trouble spots" have stopped in their fucking tracks. Novamin is owned by GlaxoSmith Kline (sp?) and they only sell it to perscription drug places here in the states so it's not commercially available. My dentist approves of it, it also has fluoride in it, she's pleased with the results.

u/mage12 · 13 pointsr/bestof

Discussion of Columbus always reminds me of Orson Scott Card's Pastwatch: The Redemption of Christopher Columbus. It's a fascinating combination of timey-wimeyness, discussions on morality, and literal historical revisionism. Certainly worth a read!

u/BoredomHeights · -1 pointsr/bestof

You're not too off. There was a book where the author made himself homeless (picked a major city at random and went with just $20) to see how long it would take him to get a furnished apartment (obviously not a fancy one or anything, just livable). It was only like 6 months or something, maybe less. He obviously also wasn't allowed to use his degrees or anything, he couldn't just suddenly get a job as a software engineer or something.

A big part of the point of the book was that a lot of homeless people have some kind of mental illness or need further care, the book was supposed to be what a "regular joe" could do. Also, having worked with a decent amount in some charities and things (I'm in SF), a lot of homeless people aren't exactly mentally ill, but have extreme problems with authority. Which makes it very hard to keep down a job.

The author's path to "success" was basically as soon as he got into town he found a police officer, said I'm homeless where do I go. Officer took him to a shelter. At the shelter he asked about work programs. Pretty quickly he got accepted into a program as a mover and started getting money through that. Obviously wasn't exactly an easy time, but it's also not impossible to drag yourself out of if you're mentally sound and can present yourself well. My memory of the whole situation's a little hazy, been a while since reading.

edit: Found the book. He went to South Carolina and it was actually $25 and a sleeping bag.

u/Link2999 · 18 pointsr/bestof

If anyone is interested in this technology, I use these and they work fantastic: http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B00JHRTJQS/

Had AT&T guys stopping by way too frequently since my signal wouldn't reach the other side of my house. Apparently it's because we kept an outside wall when adding an addition to our house. Anyways, one of the service guys gave me these to try and I haven't had any problems since. Was actually able to connect the other end to another router for WiFi service on the other half of our home. There isn't any difference in speeds from either end of the house now.

u/Stillhart · 1 pointr/bestof

It's easy enough to remove the affiliate link junk from an Amazon URL.

Find the part that looks like this: ".../B07CXG6C9W?..." and remove the ? and everything after it. Done, no longer an affiliate link.

u/WJHuett · 0 pointsr/bestof

If you guys dig that kind of stuff, you must read Sam Harris. His books changed my entire worldview -- especially The Moral Landscape. Awesome book.

u/DeathLeopard · 14 pointsr/bestof

I'd recommend reading Lies My Teacher Told Me: Everything Your American History Textbook Got Wrong if you're curious about the accuracy of American high school history textbooks.

u/jbisinla · -5 pointsr/bestof

The Wax Buddy Product

doctorbean's item

Patent fraud or not, it's still a pretty obvious ripoff.

If somebody had copied a cartoon or a piece of artwork this closely and posted it as their own on reddit, people would be tearing them a new one.

This is why people hate lawyers.

EDIT: I'm going counter to the bandwagon and getting downvoted, but take a look at the google image search for wax combs and note how the only one that looks almost exactly like the Wax Buddy is doctorbean's creation.

u/robotparker · 13 pointsr/bestof

just a heads up: the toothpaste at the other end of your Amazon link doesn't contain NovaMin, but this one does.

u/throwhooawayyfoe · 2 pointsr/bestof

I wouldn't be writing this sentence if it weren't for the intervention of modern healthcare at several specific moments in my life. Yammer on all you like about the virtues of the noble savage over the horrors of science and civilization... I prefer to have a heartbeat ;)

Only a stunning level of insulated privilege can produce the idea that a life defined by preventable disease, parasites, infant and child mortality, famine, drought, and the ever-present threat of disability, disfigurement, and death is preferable to the luxury of having our basic needs so adequately met that we can afford an afternoon of philosophical discussion on the internet. Or... from a quick glance at your profile, every afternoon.

I fully support the idea of questioning where we should try and evolve our civilization from here, and how to best get there, but not if the only purpose is to shit on the idea of progress altogether and resort instead to vague claims that there is no way to rationalize that some states of existence could be preferable to others. If you really believe that's the case, I'd be very curious to hear your thoughts about the line of argumentation outlined here. Otherwise your contribution here is just run-of-the-mill /r/im14andthisisdeep

u/TheNoize · 1 pointr/bestof

Actually, I just ordered, this is the right link. It must be shipped from the UK :/ Thanks capitalism...

u/SteveAM1 · 4 pointsr/bestof

You may enjoy reading this book as well: http://www.amazon.com/Guns-South-Harry-Turtledove/dp/0345384687

>The Confederates win the Civil War with aid from South African time travelers in this unconvincing "what-if" tale. Using a time machine, Andrew Rhoodie and his cadre of white supremacists from A.D. 2014 join the rebels and supply them with AK-47 assault rifles.

u/LaunchThePolaris · 1 pointr/bestof

This is an excellent book about how normal people can become murderers. No human is inherently different than any other. We are all capable of the exact same things.

u/PsykickPriest · 0 pointsr/bestof

That's a pretty worthwhile read, but it is highly anecdotal and there are some things that one could be questioned further.

The one that caught my eye most readily was this:

"Troops returning in uniform were spit on by strangers in bus stations."

That's a questionable generalization; so much so that an entire book was written just on that very image. A book that is probably about as divisive as the subject matter is (esp. in today's political climate).

http://www.amazon.com/Spitting-Image-Memory-Legacy-Vietnam/dp/0814751474

http://www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2005/04/30/debunking_a_spitting_image/

http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/press_box/2007/01/newsweek_throws_the_spitter.html

The story could largely be a myth.

u/ittybittbitt · 1 pointr/bestof

This book does an amazing job of exploring the things mentioned in the post. It brings humanity and a better understanding of our war veterans. It's completely changed the way I see our vets.

Achilles in Vietnam: Combat Trauma and the Undoing of Character

u/GodOfDucks · 1 pointr/bestof

>Changing the tool used to commit violence doesn't help us

You might want to do some reading on this, kid. Start with military experts, for example:

https://www.amazon.com/Killing-Psychological-Cost-Learning-Society/dp/0316040932

u/IndifferentMorality · 10 pointsr/bestof

Oh joy, another baby boomer sociology book.



Here are some comprehensive reviews of this book that might be worth reading.



Here is one of many instances of mistreatment of veterans.



Here is another vets recollection of the time, showing poor treatment.



Here is another article describing the spitting.



Here is an article describing anti-war protesters spitting at soldiers for the Iraq war.



Here is a book by a University History professor, with sources, indicating that it all did indeed happen.



And last, but not least, Here is a time machine, so you can travel back to before you made this comment and slap yourself.



Even worse than mistreating the veterans of yesteryear is pretending that no mistreatment ever occurred to placate your' own ego.

u/crazyrich · 9 pointsr/bestof

I'll make a recommendation I make a few times a year here on Reddit an suggest reading On Killing by Lt. Col. David Grossman:

https://www.amazon.com/Killing-Psychological-Cost-Learning-Society/dp/0316040932

Dave Grossman goes over a human's natural disinclination to kill in fine detail, using historical war records of proof. Then, he analyzes how modern war training (Vietnam and beyond) is built around overcoming these natural aversions, and of course how bloodlust can take control where training does not (as it does here). A lot of interesting bits on how physical or mechanical distance lessons phychological reactions to the act and how soldiers make justifications in the moment.

His answer to the "what's next" question is total and unconditional support of soldiers that return home that have not been perpetrators of atrocities. They need to know that what they did was necessary, that they did it for their country, that we are proud of what they've done and appreciate it. The exposure of civilians to the horrors of war by the media in Vietnam, and the public's reaction to the soldier's returning, is cted as a primary reason for the mental illness wave that affects the veterans of that war disproportionately.

You may not support going to war - the justifications or methods - but you must always support the men and women sent to kill and die by our government as they are serving their country in the best way they know how, and it is important to validate that sacrifice.

u/yangtastic · 1 pointr/bestof

Man, last two days have been really busy, but I did wanna get back to this.

So... First off, maybe my "how 'bout some dick" reference didn't get picked up. I could have a woman approach me, and when I ask her out, take her to dinner, walk her home, kiss her goodnight, and leave, I'm really saying, "How 'bout some dick?" Hell, I might even be saying, "How 'bout some dick--for the rest of your life?" Ultimately, that's what all advances are, regardless of the form they take, which is why I said it was "some flavor" of the famous Chris Rock line.

Now... You seem to be advancing the argument that straight men should not hit on women in a bar (and one that we've already established is not a speakeasy and not a lesbian bar), because it might make the women uncomfortable. Now, I don't think you're actually committed to this claim--it's obviously a straw man--but I did want to discuss it for just a second, because it goes further than being simply ridiculous. If a woman IS in a bar--of this sort--and a man hits on her, no matter how inexpertly, if her reaction is to become "uncomfortable," then that is extremely problematic. Turn the situation around. If a straight man goes to a gay bar and (predictably) gets hit on by men, and becomes "uncomfortable" in response, instead of simply saying, "Sorry mate, straight but not narrow here; just didn't wanna be left out of all the fun for my friend's birthday," to as many gay boys as necessary, we would understandably take the guy to task. Moreover, we probably wouldn't stop at, "Idiot, what the hell did you think was going to happen at a bar where people hit on people that look like you?" we'd probably go further and ask him what his problem was, ask him exactly how prejudiced or bigoted he is.

Now obviously there are guys who won't take no for an answer. This is why God made bouncers. They're also a straw man--nobody thinks that they're OK in any bar, gay, straight, whatever, so I'm not going to waste time pretending I have to defend them.

But I'm not going to pretend that I've actually argued my point well if I say, "wooq thinks men shouldn't hit on women in bars, hilarious!" No, your point is a larger one about women having to endure men hitting on them in general.

Now, my point about the evolutionary biology was not "Durr, you and me baby ain't nothin' but mammals," but rather to illustrate that competition for mates is a function of biological economics and nothing else--notice that female hyenas have so much testosterone that they develop pseudopenises, but the males still compete for females. Given our biological economics, men will always compete for women, because women's biological stakes in sex, their risks, are higher. They're the ones with the valuable stuff that everybody wants, so they're the ones who get to choose who stays in the gene pool and who doesn't.

Now sure, mathematically, it's in a woman's best interest if she makes the first move. Biologically and culturally, that's not how things shake out. See, human rationality is really just not as common as we'd like to think. The simple fact of the matter is that women are more likely to want to get laid when they're ovulating. One of my female friends sets an alarm in her phone so she knows not to call any men for a few days. This phenomenon isn't an accident.

Nor is a man's desire to have sex with women. Nor is it any more "disgusting" than a woman's sexual urges. We're talking about something as natural and fundamental as hunger.

So if you've got food, and somebody asks you for it, you really can't fault them. After all, they need it to live, and moreover, they're physically incapable of getting any themselves. Now you don't owe it to them, and if they ask repeatedly and harass you, or try to take it by force, then by all means, fuck those guys. Nobody disagrees with that.

Last I checked, Emily Post held that because men bear the burden of making the first move, and because non-verbal signals (hell, even verbal signals) can be uncertain and misinterpreted, every single woman owes every single man one free pass, and it is in fact a breach of etiquette to take offense or hold it against him. (Obviously she also holds that shooting him down should be done with tact and sensitivity, and that a guy should accept being shot down with grace.)

Now, a rude advance is a rude advance, and that can be held against a man, but that's because it's rude, not because it's an advance.

We're human, sure, but part of being human is fucking. It's quite literally what made us human in the first place. More often than not, that means men asking women out.

Although, I mean, if you've got some plan for the propagation of the species that doesn't involve men asking women for sex, I'd love to hear it.

u/Hoyarugby · 12 pointsr/bestof

The user turned this narrative into a five part series of the first killings, how the ordinary men of Reserve Police Battalion 101 dealt with the aftermath of that killing, how the killings became a routine, and eventually details their largest mass killing - the killing of the 42,000 Jews in the Lublin Ghetto

HighCrimesandHistory's post is based on the fantastic work Ordinary Men: Reserve Police Battalion 101 and the Final Solution in Poland. The book details the 500 middle aged family men of Reserve Police Battalion 101, mostly shopkeepers and tradesmen from Hamburg, as they directly killed at least 38,000 Jews in under a year, and sent tens of thousands more to the death camps.

The book itself is incredible and a must read for anybody interested, but /u/highcrimesandhistory turned parts of the book into an incredibly visceral and readable narrative